PA: Senate positions Megan’s Law fix for vote

HARRISBURG — A bill seeking to deliver a legislative fix to Megan’s Law for sexual assault offenders was positioned for a Senate floor vote after a key senator gave a green light Monday.

Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, repeated his strong objections to the House-passed legislation, House Bill 1952, at the start of a two-hour hearing Monday morning on the Judiciary Committee, which Greenleaf chairs.

Following the hearing, Greenleaf voted with colleagues to approve the bill, which addresses concerns the Pennsylvania Supreme Court raised about Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry.

The Senate later voted to amend the provisions of HB1952 into House Bill 631, another House-passed bill dealing with probation for a category of sex offenders.

Greenleaf said he decided to move the legislation and vote for it after getting assurances during the hearing from Pennsylvania State Police officials, who said they would provide recommendations for improving Megan’s Law.

Greenleaf wants to address issues beyond the scope of HB1952, which was introduced in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer in the Jose Muniz case. The court ruled in favor of Muniz, convicted of two counts of indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl.

Greenleaf called attention to the need to focus on the most dangerous sex offenders and better manage an offenders registry that has expanded greatly since Megan’s Law was first enacted in 1995.

Join the discussion

What’s happening in Pennsylvania foreshadows what would happen if the U.S. Supreme Court ever chooses to address the topic and ever determines Registries to be unconstitutional. Congress would immediately put a freeze on any names being removed from any Registries while lawmakers urgently scramble to craft new laws that barely skirt the edge of constitutionality.
Legislators will pander to public hysteria. Screw fairness, reason, and the Constitution. 😡

So here is my simple solution to this problem: we – and I mean do mean everyone including Registrants – need to pressure lawmakers for more and more crimes to be included on Sex Offender Registries and keep pushing for everyone convicted of any sex offenses (no matter how minor the crime) to be added to Registries!
It is only when EVERYONE in the public and when EVERY lawmaker has a brother, uncle, son, grandchild, best friend or neighbor listed on a Registry that we will EVER start to see any meaningful and permanent changes and EVER see the abolition of Registries.

…. And only when the COST to maintain Registries and monitor Registrants becomes unbearably expensive for law enforcement and local/state governments, will the Registries, their purpose and effectiveness, begin to be reconsidered.

Unfortunately, at the current rate, the cost will never become unbearable for maintaining registries. The states will always be able to make a profit at it. If you look at what Tennessee recently posted as a profit margin based upon their RC registry, which was well over $2 million, you’ll see that they’ll never lose money at it. At that amount, they’ll technically never need US government funds to help maintain any SORNA registry.

At the same time, the law enforcement agencies and offices usually receive grants from federal and state level governments to do compliance checks, etc qualified under joint training, etc. There are financial reasons why many agencies and offices are usually involved together at these events.

@ TS, all that money you’re talking about doesn’t appear out of nowhere – it comes from taxpayer dollars. It’s not a “profit” – it’s a direct expense to the taxpayers. And eventually, as those costs rise higher and higher with more people listed on the registries, the taxpayers are going to get frustrated at having to pay for a sounds-good-but-does-nothing program.

The grants that come to pay for this joint training as previously mentioned come from taxpayers dollars. Whether it’s current year taxpayer dollars or future taxpayer dollars, they are from the taxpayer and will be paid by them one way or another. In that regard, you are correct.

However, in the profit regard, the state of Tennessee showed a $2.4M profit based upon what they charged the registrant, how much the registry cost to administer, and how much profit they gained from the registry over one year. It’s in the comment section of this website from a previous discussion. What Tennessee does with that profit is up to them of course.

You would hope that it doesn’t take endless payments into something for people to rise up and say it’s a bunch of bunk before they decide to say something about it.

…. now think about the friends you’ve lost, the family members who avoid you, the jobs you’ve been denied, the housing you can’t find …… What would happen if every other person in the country was a Registrant?? This is what would happen: the public would begin to disregard the Registries…. and they would begin to take note of the severe restrictions hindering every aspect of Registrants’ lives ….. and they would become angry ……. and they would begin to attack the Registries as evil.

@ C: I agree with you – let’s list everyone’s worst act on a giant registry, so we can always see the worst about anyone we encounter. And have their worst decision/action follow them forever …. just as they do to us!

I don’t need to be better managed , matter of fact I don’t need managed AT ALL , bunch of flip floppers driven by their crime buddy’s in the prison industry and LE , everyone that can profit from making it imposable for people to live their life with out being in some kind of lame violation .

I have to dasgree because I have family members who already pay a price for my past, not only that some of them would end up on one of the registries you all are mentioning and then they would be suffering even more, I would like it all to end also, But I do see your point, the only thing I see happening is that they are going to absorb so much before they make tax payers pay double and triple taxes, but let me say this also, there are some states that make the offenders pay for the very registry they are forced to be on so imagine not being able to get a job or keep a job and then if you don’t pay the keepers you get locked away for decades for being non compliant, be careful what you wish for.

I was convicted in 1989 of rape sentenced to 5-10yrs. after serving 15 yrs.I was released in (May 2003.on the day of release) I was informed by the corrections officer that I’d have to report to the State Police to register under Magans Law,,,(Magans Law went into effect in 1996.). At any rate I complied. I registered every 6 months up until,,2012,without any expelination I was told I’d have to now register every 3 months..My argument has been since my release,, I should’ve never been placed on that list since my conviction was in ,,1989,. Now I’ve been told that I can’t be placed on the lease to where I’ve been living for(3 !/2 Yrs.) with my fiance.Does the Ex Post Facto rule of law apply in my situation..

Mike I do not know but I do know that your conviction supersedes the date that it says people have to register under the proposed law, but it also says that anyone that had to reg under an old law must register on new law. I think because of Muniz and Reed you could argue that you should have never had to reg under old laws but I do not know for sure because your release was in 2003. I would talk to Sam Stretton in west Chester or Patrone out of Philly

The Muniz isn’t a blanket decision – it does not apply to everyone in every situation. Muniz applies to those convicted of crimes prior to the effective date of Megans Law IV. What the decision does is ban application of the SORNA requirements retroactively.

Your registration requirement would revert back to whatever the requirement was at the time of your offense. Whether or not that gets you off the registry would depend on the previous requirement.

Yea I think everyone knows that already since July Mike The 600 plus they have removed so far all have finished their 10yr reg or were not required to reg pre SORNA so to put them back on is illegal per Muniz and the new amendments from HB 631. It is a blanket decision along with Reed for pre SORNA people in that a persons reg recruitments can not be enhanced by SORNA or any other law. The legislature and PSP knows pretty much anything they come up with will not float if they increase the time someone needs to register and add anything more to what was in place at the time someone committed their crime. So that is why they already started removing people 600 so far that have finished their time and they will be reverting any pre SORNA people left with time on reg back to what was in place. They will not be able to pass any bill that adds any time to someones reg now and they know it. In addition SVP and reputation will also be knocking on their door once Stretton and others get to them, which will bring down 631 amendments too. I am willing to bet once another cases gets to PASC and they accept it they will be clarifying some things for the political hacks and the PSP, maybe next time they will take Aaron Marcuses suggestions and not bring in a cow poke co DA to blow some smoke and mirror BS.

I went in to complete my quarterly registration today with no paperwork. The trooper that registered me said he was aware there were changes happening but said it was ongoing so therefore they do not have any new info at this time. Was registered timely and without issue.
I have one year to go on my original 10 year registration from 2007. In 2012 I was of coursed changed to lifetime but hopefully by the time my 10 is up it will be worked out.

Well after reading all these posts I’m like whoa. I totally agree with everyone here. I spent over 7000.00 and got no where and now looking at another 3000.00 to take a fight to PSP in PA. I was sentenced in December 2008, got out on July 2012, I was sentence 4-8 years for an internet sting by the good ole AG of PA. So I was sentenced to 10 years ML and didn’t start until I got out in July. I then was put on Sorna to life, then I paid a lawyer in philly, pa got it down to a 25 year, then paid another lawyer 5000.00 to get me to pre-sorna. So the good ole PA Courts put the order in for me to comply for ML 2. Which I went to register and found that I was put back on Sorna as a teir 1 15yr. Lol. I’m just smdh. So, I called my lawyer back and now we are going after the PSP and PA Courts for a contempt of Court Order because they have not removed me off the web. So now I’m planning on suing the State for defamation of character and not complying with their contract that we signed in Court and under oath. We as SOs need to have movement like other groups of people do when they protest. We need to stand up to the Courts and fight and PROTEST.

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